you're a fortress, darling (and I'll break it down)
by cheadsearc
Summary: sometimes you put up walls / not to keep people out but to see who cares enough to knock them down :: in which annabeth is great at building walls, but percy loves to break them down :: percabeth-centric :: short drabble


**h·o·m·e**

What does it mean? A warm, comfortable bed? Loving hugs from your mother as you wish her good night, and the scruffiness of your dad's cheek as you kiss him goodnight?

Annabeth Chase didn't know.

Eight years. It had been eight years since she'd seen her father's big, brown desk in his office. Earned a tight smile of approval from her stepmother. Cried out in pain as she stepped over one of her baby brothers' toys.

No, Annabeth Chase didn't know what _home_ meant.

Until she could see the smile lines around those beautiful sea-green eyes and sleep in his arms, wrapped in a cocoon of safety and love.

/

 **b/l/i/s/s**

Such an idealistic notion. It couldn't exist. That feeling of ecstasy and pure joy? Hah. What a stupid thought. The novels said it all – the laugh-so-hard-it-hurts, smiling till you have to stop because it hurts to grin, tears of joy – everything.

Annabeth Chase had never felt it.

Her Dad was too wrapped up in his own world. Her stepmother could care less. Matthew and Bobby, were sweet… and annoying. They never cared for happiness.

They never cared for _her_.

After all, they never put much effort into finding her after she ran away to live alone on the darkened streets filled with scary shadows.

(But they didn't scare her now. Not anymore.)

No, Annabeth Chase never knew how _bliss_ felt.

Until those long, graceful hands tickled her to the point of tears and those perfect lips kissed her to oblivion.

/

 **[h][o][p][e]**

'I hope.' How many times had she heard those couple of words leaving someone's mouth? She couldn't count. She didn't have to. _Everyone_ had uttered those magic words of comfort at one point of their lives or another.

Annabeth Chase didn't think she'd ever said the word _hope_.

Her childhood was supposed to be perfect. Full of hope. But who was there to give it? To tell her it was real? No one. Hope was the last thing on her mind as her feet slapped the tarmac of San Francisco's alleys, making her way out. Out of the city. Out of the hate. Out of the sorrow. But where? Towards hope?

Not a chance.

She just lived. Existed. Barely a human being. How could she be human without hope?

No, Annabeth Chase never experienced _hope_ before.

Until the kind woman taught her, with blue cookies in hand. Until, the little boy grinned at her. Until, the man, lying next to her, promised her forever, with shining eyes and a hopeful heart.

/

 **H**

She could feel it as she held her pink toes and fingers to a makeshift fire by the roadside, when the cold was too intense to bear. She could feel it, as the breeze blew in summer, ruffling her tangled hair and making her think of long-lost things. But it was never more than a second's respite.

Annabeth Chase had never felt _warmth_ in her heart.

Statues, she'd once called her parents. So perfect. So flawless. So _cold_. So untouchable. She felt as if she lived in a dollhouse. Predetermined to be perfect. What was the cost? Her soul. She felt as if she was numb from the frigidity. Unable to feel. She had to get out to survive.

She did.

Sure, it was cold as she meandered on the footpath, trying to earn a scrap of money to keep herself alive.

But it was _so_ much better than feeling like her heart was ice.

No, Annabeth Chase had never known _warmth._

Until, she had been engulfed in a thousand bear hugs, and stole a kiss on his cheek, blushing as red as could be.

/

 **-l-o-v-e-**

The elixir of life. The best feeling in the world. Drunk on it. Couldn't get enough of it. High on its drug. Hadn't she heard enough about it? Maybe not. She acted like she didn't care. But, _of course,_ she did.

Annabeth Chase had never been in _love_ before.

Love was a force of nature. Something which you couldn't avoid. Even if you were the most unfeeling of human beings. So what did that make her father and stepmother? They did not love each other – that much was clear. It was a marriage of convenience. Mechanical. Functional. Emotionless. Suffocating.

She hated it.

She had seen it in the old Disney movies she'd seen before she had run away. The prince rescued the heroine. They kissed. They lived happily ever after. Was that all?

She had believed it then. She was naïve. She was so desperate to feel love. So lonely.

But no – she didn't believe in it anymore. She wanted the kind of love which could encompass every other rational thought. She wanted the kind of love which could move the sun and the stars.

But no, Annabeth Chase never glimpsed at that kind of love.

Until, she whispered the words into his ear under the light of a million stars, three little words which shifted the axis of her world.

Until, he whispered it back to her, his grin rivalling the stars.

/

 **basically, annabeth is a runaway and is saved by percy and sally. idek. review?**


End file.
